The UK’s Covid-19 testing scandal

The government’s apparent inability to hit testing targets for Covid-19 has brought it in for heavy criticism these past few days, even among its erstwhile allies in the press. And rightly so. Over the weekend it was revealed it was still failing to reach its target of 10,000 tests a day. Meanwhile, Germany is testing 500,000 per week.

Testing is essential to tackling this crisis on a number of levels. An estimated quarter of frontline NHS staff are currently off work, self-isolating with symptoms or due to someone in their household displaying symptoms. The failure to test even NHS workers means many may be staying at home unnecessarily.

What’s more, testing allows the authorities to trace the outbreak and isolate cases, allowing them to calibrate and target their responses. As former health secretary Jeremy Hunt argued this week, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are not currently locked down due to programmes of mass testing.

A new report, written by Matthew Lesh of the Adam Smith Institute, explains how and why the UK is failing on this front, painting a picture of a dysfunctional and overly centralised system that is failing all of us. The UK, he points out, is currently in the bottom quarter of OECD countries for testing.

‘The early decision to centralise testing to a single Public Health England (PHE) laboratory’, Lesh writes, ‘has hampered the ability to increase testing in the UK’. While testing has since been expanded to 12 PHE labs, and some NHS labs, we are still not taking advantage of private labs in order to ramp up our capabilities.

The report suggests PHE has even actively discouraged use of private-sector testing, and hampered processing through centralisation. Until 28 March, PHE was insisting that ‘all tests are initially considered “presumptive positives” and must be referred to the reference laboratory at PHE Colindale for confirmatory testing’.

It’s a damning assessment, concluding that private-sector labs should be fast-tracked for approval, that the use of NHS and university labs should be expanded, that tests developed by the private-sector should be assessed for approval quickly, and that the centralised approach of PHE be unravelled.

So here we are – 10 weeks into Britain’s three-week lockdown. We hope you are all staying sane out there, and that spiked has been of some assistance in that. We have ramped up our output of late, to provide a challenge to the Covid consensus. But we couldn’t have done that without your support. spiked – unlike so many things these days – is completely free. We rely on our loyal readers to fund our journalism. So if you enjoy our work, please do consider becoming a regular donor. Even £5 per month can be a huge help. You can donate here.Thank you! And stay well.

Ness Immersion

3rd April 2020 at 11:55 pm

Two problems.
Testing for currently infected doesn’t bring a great deal to the party. We need a test for anti- bodies so that we know who is safe to return to work etc.
2nd problem – PHE and their offshoots as govt bureaucracies need to be shot now, all their budget immediately rolled back into the NHS as an interim measure.
They have been worse than useless and their entire staff should be immediately paid off with statutory redundancy only, no more.

Stef Steer

2nd April 2020 at 7:14 pm

Just watched Hancock do the briefing today. He aims to increase tests to 100,000 by the end of the month. I just don’t think this is quick enough. I also simply don’t believe him when he says some tests are failing, I just get the feeling there are preferred tests or suppliers. Also that there is a whole other agenda here to do with international relations that is not clear probably understandably.

Here is the thing there was a whole World War One generals feel to todays briefing and while I get saving lives (I think we need to compare with other countries at the end). I just think we unfortunately might have to go through the corona battle of the somme before we get the innovations and probably it will be too late. Also surely destroying the economy is not going to protect the NHS in the long run.

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

3rd April 2020 at 12:19 am

Basically, we’re absolutely f-ed.

Peter Newt

2nd April 2020 at 5:16 pm

Whats the point anyway, at 25,000 per day it would take 7 years to do the UK population, Then another 5 years to do the one’s that tested negative as the next day they may have it.
Maybe a lockdown for 10 years is a starting point!, it would help the UK government as when people do go back they will see the mess the country is in.

Weyland Smith

2nd April 2020 at 7:31 pm

Representative sampling, similar to opinion polls, could be done with 25,000 per day and that would give a starting point for estimating the infection rates within the population and allowing more targeted sampling / isolation / treatment strategies.

michael savell

2nd April 2020 at 4:51 pm

Well,of course,we know much much more about this virus than either the chinese or the WHO.
The WHO were saying test,test,test,isolate,chase up the contacts,test,test test again,so what do we do,that’s it—absolutely nothing,no masks,no equipment,what we can do however is to risk a minor revolution with a bunch of stir crazy people,we can set the financial sector back by decades,create,as we have done,a bunch of self depressives and shown up the ww2 spirit of
“spivs”and hoarders wannabe spivs.In ww2 things got so bad they had to put the left footwear meant for the troops in one train and the right in another.One thing I hope is that this country never has to fight a major war again,last time it declared war on anybody it didn’t even have an army to fight it,8 weeks training and it’s off to the front with you.Still,I suppose we didn’t have to wait in the queue at the supermarkets along with the 24/7 shoppers.

Steve Roberts

2nd April 2020 at 4:50 pm

This failure over testing is just one aspect of the absolute ineptitude of the state, it is not just their irrational judgement that sent us down this unecessary path of social destruction as is now increasingly explained by many experts in the relevant field.
It is the absolute neglect , a total disregard for the citizens of this nation, while repeating the mantra to protect the NHS and save lives thay have utterly failed to prepare for any existential issue like this, as overblown as this one likely is.
The article in the Telegraph is a damning exposure that the elites were aware of the possibility of a viral crisis, and did almost nothing to address the situation, no mobilisation of society’s resourses that were obviously necessary etc.

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

2nd April 2020 at 4:49 pm

Maybe the Germans are just better organised. That would surprise nobody.

Kevin Neil

2nd April 2020 at 3:48 pm

It simply beggars belief that the only missive I have seen from Public Health England was a study that revealed more people were found to be driving on the roads and using public transport early this week than a week ago! I almost expected to see it accompanied by an analysis of supermarket shopping that concluded with a warning that increased purchases of sugary and high-fat foods risked worsening the UK’s obesity problem.
Yet, in terms of its responsibility for testing in relation to the current viral epidemic, PHE has been conspicuously silent up to now, especially as there have been public comments fro ma variety of private and university lab providers that offers of help have been met with a deafening silence.
If there is one good thing that can come out of this crisis, it should be the complete disbandment of PHE with its responsibilities being distributed elsewhere. After all, what is the point of the Government giving responsibility for certain vital health functions to a body (where 21 officials earn more than the PM) if it is then the Government who cops all the flack for its failings the first time there is a crisis?

Matilda Edwards

2nd April 2020 at 3:36 pm

Lily Whitey Hey you guys I have found the perfect job as a full time student, it has changed my life around! If you are self motivated and social media savvy then this is ideal for you. The sky is the limit, you get exactly how much work you put into to it. Click on this link……..openthiswebsite

David Margison

2nd April 2020 at 3:03 pm

Testing would tell us exactly what percentage of the population has been, or is infected and therefore the real risk of infection. The government does not want those facts to be known, if we don’t know the numbers then no assesment of what the long term efects the lockdown, the destruction of the economy and personal finances, the abandonment of essential medical procedures with associated suffering of mental health and increased death rate, the dammage to our childres education and prospects. Has had. I suspect the government has made a mistake but would prefer to hide it.

James Knight

2nd April 2020 at 2:17 pm

You don’t need a PhD in epidemiology to get that testing is critical. That should fall on the in tray at Public Health England. But they may have been distracted by bigger issues like how much sugar is in breakfast cereals.